Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Off to Weiser tomorrow, so I thought I would update my thoughts and insights before I become "brainless."

The nuclear industry continues to stumble along.  In spite of increased cost estimates, the two Georgia reactors are still under construction, and it will be interesting to see if they are finished at all, let alone on schedule and on budget as promised.  Increased cost estimates have  failed to deter the continued push for new reactors in Florida and for the TVA in Tennessee.  After all, it's mostly public money, and CEO's are getting big salaries on all this.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/progress-energys-levy-county-nuclear-project-carries-on-despite-early-and/1232464  and
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/05/utiliites-tva-wattsbar-idUSL2E8F548S20120405

Nuclear waste was issued a big blow when the courts ruled that on-site storage of fuel will be limited to 30 years.  Oh, what to do, what to do.  The Blue Ribbon Commission said it so well…there is NO solution to the nuclear waste issue.  So, we will thrown the ball around again, spend billions of taxpayer dollars trying to find a "political" solution, since it seems we've given up on SCIENCE in this country.
http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Court-rules-against-60-years-of-storage-of-3620443.php

Things aren't any better in Europe.  They are just beginning to address the extreme high costs of decommissioning, and they haven't even begun to look at the waste issue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/how-hard-is-it-to-dismantle-150-nuclear-reactors-europes-about-to-find-out/2012/06/09/gJQA2EH0PV_blog.html?wprss=rss_policy
It's all still a dream.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-06/french-nuclear-watchdog-says-orders-won-at-too-low-prices.html

Meanwhile, in spite of the enormous and expensive effort by the Kock brothers and their "Americans for Prosperity" and other extreme right-wing  big money fossil fuel climate change deniers, renewables are doing quite well in the world.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/06/11/1981737/record-investment-in-renewable.html#storylink=rss  and
http://www.ocean-resources.com/industry-news.asp?newsid=11671

Too bad the old guard "Oldsmobiles" are spending so much money opposing the "Green Revolution."  Think of the jobs, the local developments, the sustainability, and the economic and environmental benefits we would be having now, if only….
But of course, it's all about education…..
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/06/12/498376/americans-for-prosperity-plans-protest-against-extremist-kids-flying-kites-in-support-of-wind/
and it's all about money…
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/report-gop-outside-groups-plan-spend-more-1-142453576.html

Too bad about Solyndra…just shocking!
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-28/bankrupt-nuclear-waste-firm-impact-services-gets-deadline   and
http://markey.house.gov/press-release/markey-burgess-call-gao-investigation-doe-support-near-bankrupt-usec
Fire up those subsidies.

Meanwhile, those dumb Chinese are moving head with new companies with a lot of help from the government.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/05/green_jobs_how_china_and_solyndra_left_america_s_solar_power_companies_fighting_each_other_for_scraps_.single.html
and in Taiwan
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan-business/2012/06/02/343055/Cheng-Uei.htm

It is going to be an interesting summer in California with two of its big nuclear reactors shut down.  The loss of 2200MW from San Onofre will be displaced by the 5000MW of renewables now available on the grid.  More later.

Enjoy the summer!